Improvement in electro-magnetic safe-locks



0.0.YALE. ELECTROMAGNETIC SAFE LOOK.

No. 1073993. Patented Oct. 4, 1870.

I Winesses. v

dead gtatcs CHARLES 0. YALE, or NEW YORK, N. Y.v

Letters Patent No. 107,993, dated October 4, 1870 z antedated September24, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRO-lVIAGNETiC SAFE-LOCKS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part 01 thesame.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHARnns O. YALE, of New York, in the county of NewYork and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvcments in Safes, and analogous depositaries for valuables; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof.

My invention relates to means for connecting from a battery outside toan elcctro-magnct in or about the lock, so as t-o unlock the safe by thesame means, and thus be always certain that the connections and theentire apparatus are in order at the time of locking.

My invention is applicable to all forms and constructions of batteries,and to all known or practiczu ble arrangements of helices, and analogousapparatus for operating the lock, or the corresponding part which holdsthe door. The magnet may act directly upon a heavy bolt which holds thedoor, or it may act upon a secondary and lighter bolt which holds ordogs the main bolt, or it may act upon a third or fourth member, so asto attain great delicacy in its mode of operation.

I have not esteemed it necessary to indicate any of the refinements towhich the other parts may be carried, but will represent my invention asapplied to the very simplest form of a blocking-bolt, acting as a latch.

The accompanying drawing forms a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a view of the inside of a door and doorframe (or section onT '1, fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a section on the line S S, in fig. 1.

Figures 3, 4, and 5, represent modifications.

Figure 3 shows the safedoor as made with two thicknesses ofburglar-proof material.

Figure 4 shows the door as made with only one thickness thereof.

l igurc 5 shows itmade with five thicknesses.

Figure 6 shows the wire before it is introduced in thepreviously-prepared holes and channels.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

The door of the safe is indicated collectively by the single letter A.It is made up, as usual, of several thicknesses of hardened steel,Frauklinite iron,-chillcd iron, or other hard material. These severalthicknesses may be alike, or different in their structure.

The wire, insulated by the ordinary thin coat of fibrous matter,varnish, &c., is represented by c. It leads from the helices to twoholes, preferably at a considerable distance apart, in the inner liningor sheet of the safe-door.

The holes or passages through which the ends of the wires are led to theexterior of the safe are peculiarly arranged. First, the inner holes aredrilled, or otherwise produced, of a proper size to receive the wire andan extra insulator, b, which extends only through this inner sheet orthickness A of the door. From this hole a channel leads along laterallybetween the innner thickness A} and the exterior sheet or thickness A.After extending along in this way for a considerable distance, say twoor more inches, the comlucting-wirc c is passed outward through acorresponding hole in the thickness A The offsets may be increased innumber according to the number of thicknesses of the material A, N, the.It may he led in the same or a different direction-latcrally, or

upward, or downward, or obliquely, for the same or a.

greater or lesser distance between each of the layers. 0n the exteriorthickness, here represented as A it is well guarded by a thimble ofglass, or other suitable non-conductor, around the wire; and, ifpreferred, the whole exterior surface may be blackened over, and made tocorrespond in appearance with the other portions of the surface of thesafe; or, many points on the exterior surface maybe provided withprecisely similar non-conducting rings or thimbles, with the end ofsimilar wire correspondingly presented. These false wires would aid todeceive a burglar in applying a battery to open the locksurreptitiously.

1 do not propose to indicate in detail the means, which maybe of anyapproved character, for securing my lock against being opened by theapplication of a battery by an unauthorized person.

My invention relates entirely to the insulation and security of theconnection against injury to the safe by violence on the one hand, or aloss ot'elfcct by the escape of the current on the other. My connect-ionis secured against both these evils.

It will be understood that a series of rings, or beads of glass, oranalogous non-conductor, is threaded upon the wire e so as to envelope,and keep it entirely out of contact with the metal of the door, not onlyduring its passage through the hole in each thickness A A, &c., but alsoalong the channel provided for it between the two thicknesscs. Thesebeads are marked 1) in figs. 2 and 6.

In case of the application of a drill, or a like tool, to bore out thewire and its surrounding insulating material, the drill will traverseonly through the hole in the exterior plate A before it will be arrestedby the next interior plate. Itis impossible for any known tools tooperate in the crooked passage provided through my door.

Among. the many modifications in which my idea may be carried out areseveral represented in the figures. One otthcse, that shown in fig. 1,may be applied, even where the entire door is made in one thickness. Thehole may be made in the crooked form here represented by coring. Manysuch modifications will suggest themselves to any good mechanic.

Although I have described my invention as having the connections in thedoor, which is, for some reasons, preferable, it will be obvious that itis only necessary to provide an elastic or other suitable yieldingconnection, to allow the door to turn freely on its hinges, and have thewires lead from the lock onto the fixed walls of the safe. One of thewires may communicate out through the door, and another through thefixed walls of the safe.

The magnetic connection may be made in such way as to dispense with anyelastic or flexible connection from the door to the fixed part by makingwires, or or analogous conducting-surtaccs, touch each other .when thedoor is in a closed position, and thus communicate the magnetic currentfrom the wire, or other conductor on the fixed part of the safe, to thelock on the moving part or door. Or, it will be obvious that I can, ifpreferred, mount the entire magnetic apparatus, with its locking-bolt,or equivalent part, on the fixed part of the safe, and make thelocking-bolt enter from the door-frame or jamb into a suitable recess inthe door. Ihere may be an indefinite variety of arrangements in thisrespect.

.So, also, it willbe obvious that there may be a stratum, of any giventhickness, of fire-proof material interior to or in any other positionrelatively to my hard metal parts A A I can apply my method ofinsulation in masonry walls, and make a very effective defense againstburglars, while completely insulating the connection, substantially inthe same manner as above described; that is to say, I can make a crookedhole through a thick and hard wall of masonry by drilling obliquely intwo directions, as shown in fig. 4, or by laying several courses ofmasonry and providing for the conlowers ductor, insulated asrepresented, passing through and between the several courses, turning asmany angles as may be preferred, substantially as shown in figs. 3 and5.

In cases where the conductorhas to traverse through any considerablethickness of fire-proof material, and especially where the same is initself highly resistant to burglars tools, or to violence, I cancorrespondingly crook the passage through which the conductor is ledthrough the same.

Although I have described the employment of two wires, one leading fromthe battery in through the crooked passage to connect with the helix,and induce the electromagnetic action, and the other returning through asimilar insulated crooked connection through the resisting wall, Ibelieve it practicable to operate with perfect success, under ordinarycircumstances, by the employment of only one such eonuection. Suppose,for example, the connection be with the positive pole of the battery,the current, after passing through the helix, may, instead of beingsimilarly led back to the negative pole of the battery, be simplyconducted to the iron or other highly-conducting part of the safeitself, and providing a suitable conductor, in case such does notalready exist, from any convenient corner or point on the exterior ofthe safe, to the earth, the operation will, in such case, be analogousto that of telegraphing with one wire, the current returning to theearth.

I claim as new and as my invention The mode herein described ofinsulating the conneotion from a magnetic-battery, or its equivalent, onthe exterior of a safe, to the helices M M, or their equivalents, on theinterior, when the latter are adapted to operate on electro-magnets, andthereby to aid in securing the door, all substantially as and for thepurposes herein specified. I

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name in presence of twosubscribingwitnesses.

O. O. YALE.

Witnesses:

O. O. LIVINGS, WM. 0. DEY.

